Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted Apple would sell 3
million iPhones to China Mobile users this quarter, so the 1
million in February is about in line with his estimate. On CNBC
though, he said the result was "disappointing."

Cowen & Co. analyst Timothy Arcuri said the 1 million was
right in line with his expectations, but was "likely below" what
everyone else was thinking. He says the consensus was for 5
million this quarter, which seems out of reach.

Kulbinder Garcha at UBS wrote, "These initial sales are in-line
with our view and point to limited adoption at China Mobile,
which we believe is primarily due to the high cost of the device
and quality issues with its LTE network."

China Mobile is the world's biggest carrier, so a lot of people
assumed that once Apple would blow the doors off once it was
officially working with the carrier. The problem is that the
iPhone is still expensive, and China Mobile's high-end subscriber
base is just a fraction of the overall subscribers. Plus, China
Mobile is still expanding its 4G network around China.

While these in-line results are quietly below expectations, many
analysts are thinking that China Mobile will have a bigger impact
in the fourth quarter when its 4G network is more robust, and
when Apple starts selling a larger screened iPhone.